The invention relates to dental care compositions for preventative dental hygiene which can generally be used by dentists on the patient in a cleaning cycle every several months, six months or a year. The compositions of these dental care compositions, which are also called prophylaxis pastes, differ from those of conventional toothpastes, which are generally used twice daily in the oral cavity by everyone without professional assistance.
The invention further relates to kits comprising the prophylaxis pastes according to the invention, to processes for producing the prophylaxis pastes, and to the use of the compositions according to the invention for producing the prophylaxis pastes.
Whereas toothpastes serve to remove food residues and give the consumer a refreshing mouth feel, the prophylaxis pastes serve for the polishing of teeth, the prevention of plaque formation, caries and gingivitis or for scale treatment, the removal of tooth stain discolorations and deposits which stubbornly adhere to the teeth, and also for preventing the development of sensitive teeth. Further indications relate to the cleaning and polishing of fillings, the polishing of the tooth surfaces prior to bleaching or following the removal of orthodontic devices in the course of professional tooth cleaning, and also the removal of residues of temporary luting material prior to the definitive bonding in place.
Pellicles, which settle as thin films on the tooth surfaces after cleaning the teeth and are formed from proteins in saliva, permit the adhesion of certain bacteria and the formation of biofilms. Plaque is formed on these films. Expert polishing using an appropriate prophylaxis paste suppresses biofilm growth, destroys the film and ensures that a rapid, new biofilm formation is temporarily suppressed on the polished, smooth tooth surface. However, it has to be ensured that, on the one hand, the cleaning and polishing effect of the paste has been optimally developed and, on the other hand, an abrasion which is harmful to health and damage to the tooth surfaces are minimized.
Prophylaxis pastes, which are applied by the dentist, are thus an important supplement to daily tooth cleaning. The additional dental treatment aims to assist dental care such that caries are reduced and further therapeutic measures become superfluous.
Prophylaxis pastes generally consist of three different pastes subdivided according to degrees of hardness. In dental practice, when carrying out the prophylaxis process, the tooth surface can be treated firstly with the hard paste, then with the medium-hard paste and finally with the soft paste. In the first operation, the tooth surface is roughened using the hard paste. The fluoride component in the paste is introduced into the rough tooth surfaces. The medium-hard and soft paste then polishes the coarse unevennesses on the teeth flat.
Alternatively, the pastes of differing hardness, which correspond to different cleaning intensities, can also be applied individually to the patient. It is then possible to individually deal with an individual patient situation here depending on the degree of dental contamination. However, in these cases too, after using a paste with a higher cleaning intensity, a final treatment with a soft paste should be carried out.
Prophylaxis pastes are known from the prior art.
US 2011/0059420 A1 describes a dental prophylaxis paste which has excellent flow properties during production, good usability on the patient and remineralizing properties. The paste comprises at least one water-soluble calcium salt, a water-soluble phosphate salt, a water-soluble fluoride compound, a silicate matrix, water and a humectant.
WO 2009/140577 A1 details oral compositions, where amorphous silicas with average particle sizes of 5 μm to 20 μm and an Einlehner hardness of 4 to 11 are used as cleaning agents.
EP 1 278 506 B1 discloses compositions of prophylaxis pastes which can be prepared using an abrasive substance of borosilicate glass of a specific composition having particle sizes of less than 200 μm and an average diameter of less than 50 μm.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,707 B1 discloses dental prophylaxis pastes with antimicrobial properties. The pastes comprise triclosan as antimicrobial active ingredient.
US 2002/0098156 A1 describes compositions of prophylaxis pastes in which roxite particles with average sizes of less than 5 μm are used as abrasives. Roxite is a polishing powder based on zirconium oxide that is preferably used in sizes of less than 1.3 μm.
EP 1 938 786 B1 discloses prophylaxis pastes which have expanded perlite with an average particle size of about 20 μm to about 70 μm and suspended particles as the sole cleaning and polishing body. The compositions comprise the perlite with a Darcy value in the range from about 0.1 to about 3 in amounts of from 40 to 55% by weight, about 5% by weight or less of a surfactant and more than 10% by weight of water.
DE 692 04 942 T2 claims a prophylaxis paste which comprises, as the sole, combined cleaning and polishing body, a finely divided rock with sharp-edged particles which disintegrates under application conditions into smaller, likewise sharp-edged particles and furthermore comprises 1,2-propanediol and a wetting agent, where the paste is virtually anhydrous. The finely divided rock used is perlite.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,332,150 B2 protects prophylaxis pastes which have cleaning bodies made of borosilicate glass with planar bodies in sizes of from 45 to 300 μm and a thickness of ca. 4 μm, where the small glass plates, upon exerting pressure, are aligned in parallel to the oral surface and their abrasive effect is thus reduced.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,707 B1 describes prophylaxis pastes consisting of triclosan as antibacterial additive, water, a humectant and a polishing body which is selected from the group consisting of pumice and clay, and also mixtures of pumice and clay.
DE 602 10 674 T2 indicates a surface treatment process for abrading a tooth surface coating in which an erasing agent is used which comprises a large number of particles, where the particles include a precipitate or agglomerate of calcium carbonate, where the process involves the step of contacting the surface with the erasing agent such that at least some of the particles roll along at least a section of the surface, where an angle of incidence of the particles and of the surface is between 0° and 60°, where the particles are generally round and have an irregular surface configuration, in order to carry out a rolling movement along the surface such that the particles rub on the coating and absorb it and where the erasing agent is essentially nonaqueous and where the particles have an average maximum diameter of between 30 and 1000 μm. The use of this process is provided inter alia for removing plaque and for the general cleaning and polishing of teeth and prostheses.
US 2011/0008270 relates to a water-soluble composition as prophylaxis paste, comprising a water-miscible liquid and at least 10% by weight of water-soluble particles which are selected from the group consisting of organic acids and salts thereof, amino acids and salts thereof, monosaccharides, disaccharides and mixtures of these components, where the composition is essentially free from water and the % s by weight refer to the total composition.
WO 2005/027863 is aimed at a mouth and dental care composition as polishing or cleaning agent, comprising a composite material comprising sparingly water-soluble calcium salts in the form of nanoparticulate primary particles with a length of 5 to 150 nm and a cross section of 2 to 50 nm and protein components selected from proteins, protein hydrolyzates and protein hydrolyzate derivatives and 0.1 to 9% by weight of a cleaning agent, based on the total weight of the composition.
WO 2010/009133 A2 describes a dental prophylaxis composition, during the application of which the dental surface is said to have no mechanical abrasion and where the nonabrasive polish comprises chlorine dioxide.
US 2010/0135925 A1 indicates prophylaxis pastes with cleaning bodies based on quartz glass. The quartz glass is an amorphous silica of high purity and has an average particle size of at least 7 μm. The compositions are said to produce PCR (pellicle cleaning ratio) values of at least 100.
DE 600 35 344 T2 discloses an antisensitivity dental mass which can also be used in a prophylaxis paste for polishing teeth or for treating sensitive teeth or for preventing the development of sensitive teeth following scale treatment, root cleaning and/or smoothing or stain removal by the dentist or hygienist.
EP 0 268 763 describes a prophylaxis paste which comprises, as cleaning body, a mixture consisting of a perlite and a synthetically produced precipitated silica, where the precipitated silica is obtained by homogeneously mixing together the precipitated silicas obtained in the usual manner by the precipitation route and of differing particle size and particle density in the suspension phase, and processing the mixtures in the usual manner by filtration, washing, drying and grinding.
EP 1 051 962 B1 claims a prophylaxis paste which has disc-like, plane or curved particles of a rock, in particular of perlite, as the main constituent of the cleaning body and a fraction of 20-80% by weight of polyether, cleaning bodies and polyether together constitute at least 30% by weight of the dental care composition and 0-20% by weight of emulsifier are present, where at least the polyether fraction serves for establishing the flow properties.
EP 2 286 786 A1 proposes a dental care composition for remineralizing teeth, having an active ingredient complex of hydroxylapatite and fluoride, where the active ingredient complex moreover has xylitol for allegedly increasing the remineralizing effect by the fluoride.
The majority of the prior art in connection with dental prophylaxis pastes is directed to the important problem of providing a cleaning body which cleans and polishes the teeth as thoroughly as possible and in so doing causes as little harmful abrasion as possible on the natural hard tooth substance.
A measure of the abrasion of hard tooth substance after using a cleaning and polishing paste on the teeth is the so-called RDA value (relative dentine abrasion).
The RDA values here were measured in accordance with DIN EN ISO 11609 (dental cleaning composition, requirement, test method and requirements). In this measurement method, teeth are radioactively irradiated and then brushed using the pastes and using a reference composition based on silica. Finally, the remaining radioactivity is measured and the samples are compared with the reference samples. The RDA values given here are averages from 6 sample measurements. The deviations are given by the variation coefficient (VC), a value which is obtained from the quotient of the standard deviation and the average, multiplied by 100.